The Organization
Soldiers who serve in the territories witness and participate in military actions that change them immensely. Cases of abuse toward Palestinians, looting and destruction of property have been the norm for years, but these incidents are still described officially as “extreme” and “unique” cases. Our testimonies portray a different – and much grimmer – picture, in which the deterioration of moral standards finds expression in the character of the military orders and rules of engagement that the state considers justified in the name of Israel’s security."
"We collect and publish testimonies from soldiers who, like us, have served in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem since September 2000. To boost public awareness, we hold lectures, house meetings and other public events that bring to light the reality in the territories through the voices of former soldiers. We also conduct tours in Hebron and the South Hebron Hills in the West Bank, with the aim of giving the public access to the reality that exists only minutes away from their own homes, yet is rarely portrayed in the media.
Founded in March 2004 by a group of soldiers who served in Hebron, Breaking the Silence has since acquired a special standing in the eyes of the Israeli public and in the media because of its unique role in giving voice to the experience of soldiers. To date, the organization has collected testimonies from more than 1,400 soldiers who represent all strata of Israeli society and cover nearly all units that operate in the territories."
WHY I BREAK THE SILENCE?
"Breaking the silence is a process. It calls on us to carefully peel off, one by one, the thick layers of denial and repression that we draped over ourselves, demanding painful recognition of the sad truth of the occupation, and the role we played in its execution. The exact moment that triggered this process is different for each and every one of us: for some of us the decision to break the silence arose in a moment of clarity, and for others it was a longer process of digesting conflicting emotions. For some it was the sense of civic duty, and for others, an eroding sense of unease. Yet for all of us, breaking the silence was the result of a direct and painful encounter with the occupation. It is the result of realizing that we cannot remain silent in the face of the blatant injustice we saw through the windows of the military jeep, or ignore the plight of those whose homes we forcefully raided in the middle of the night. The act of breaking the silence is our resolution to rise up against injustice, against the repression of freedom, and against the callous hardening of the heart, ever-present in the occupation itself, and in all of us who served it.The act of breaking the silence is the readiness to carry the burden of responsibility for what we, as soldiers and commanders, did in the occupied territories: for the countless invasions into innocent people’s homes, for the pointless checkpoints in the heart of Palestinian villages, for the wreckage we sowed by a slight pull of the trigger, and for that one slap on a man’s face that will forever shadow his dignity. For all of that, and more, we take full responsibility. Yet, in doing so, we demand that Israeli society take responsibility for what it sends us to do. The very society that embraces us as the nation’s ‘children,’ but sends us at age 18 to be foreign rulers over others, without stopping to think what service in the occupied territories actually entails. We demand our society, Israeli society, to listen to our story – as it is their story, too. We expect them to take responsibility and put an end to the occupation. Breaking the silence confronts us with who we are and what we have become in the aftermath of sipping from the goblet of power and control. The reflection that surfaces often contradicts the image we had of ourselves. When these contradictions are revealed, cracks begin to appear, and these cracks are dangerous as they challenge the blind faith we have in the righteousness of our path. The blind faith that allows many to look away and find excuses for the injustices we have been inflicting on others for the past 50 years and counting. The blind faith that allows us to say that what is wrong is sometimes right, and that for the sake of our so-called 'own good' we are permitted to do evil to others. We broke the silence because we believe it is our moral duty to speak about the injustices we saw and inflicted. Breaking the silence has compelled us to pose questions about things Israeli society taught us there are no questions to ask. Questions about the IDF being the 'most moral army in the world,' about Israel as a peace loving nation simply protecting itself from the enemy, or about how these disagreements must be resolved solely 'in the family.' When all these question marks appeared we found ourselves standing before a huge abyss, undermining the blind faith that shaped our identity as Israelis and soldiers. And yet we still believe it is our duty to break the silence. However, the act of breaking silence will not be complete without others breaking their silence – others who were, and still are, part of the prolonged and ever-deepening occupation. Our mission will not be complete until a critical mass of Israeli society will break the silence – a society that in its name and for its sake we have continuously occupied the lands and souls of our neighbors. We broke the silence as we believed that no change were to be possible without acknowledging the responsibility we have toward the reality of the occupation – a reality that deeply disrupts the lives of millions of people under our rule. Without such change, Israel will never become the beacon of truth and justice that we strive for it to be."
https://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/testimonies/publications
Comments